Olympics Hypocrisy....

[sparks]

London 2012: Allan Wells on winning 100m gold in 1980

 

 

Allan Wells will never forget the picture of the dead child sent to his home in an attempt to persuade him to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

 

The British government had resorted to the shocking tactic as a way of encouraging athletes to join the United States-led protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

But far from keeping Wells away from the Olympics, the gut-wrenching image actually made his mind up to go.

 

And in the face of the political pressure and mental trauma, the Scot would go on to enjoy what he says is the most significant moment of his life - winning 100m gold.

 

"One of the pictures I received from 10 Downing Street was of what looked like a dead young girl, face down, with an outstretched arm reaching for a doll," Wells tells BBC Sport.

The package was one of four that the Wells household received in the run-up to the Games. Alan's wife Margot had kept the others away from him before curiosity intervened.

"The letter had words to the effect that this is what the Soviet army are doing in Afghanistan," continued the 59-year-old. "It was a truly horrific picture and that is why I will never, or can never, forget it."

 

The government's questionable tactics backfired, however, as Wells not only vowed to compete but came within a whisker of completing the 100m and 200m double.

"I was going and that decision was taken when I saw the letter with the picture in it," says Wells. "You've got to sit up when you get letters from the government and I gave it a lot of respect, but if I didn't go it wasn't going to make any difference to what was happening in Afghanistan.

So now we have had a decade of American and British forces killing innocent civilians, should our Governments therefore (in order of fairness) be 'persuading' our athletes to boycott London 2012?

 

They are hypocrites of the highest f*cking order!....